The outcome of the recent Osun State governorship election should not be taken as an indication of what will happen in the 2027 general elections, a
gender equality advocate and Creative Director, Gender Agenda, Dr. Adaora Onyechere Sydney-Jack, has said
She spoke during the panel session of the 10th Annual Conference of the Guild of Corporate Online Publishers (GOCOP), held recently in Lagos.
She punctured the school of thought that believes Osun is a pointer to 2027, arguing that Osun is just one out of 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
“Even with the seeming openness in the Osun election, the citizens are still not convinced that INEC has that assuring trust and accountability as you heard talks like: ‘They gave us Osun State so that they will take the 2027 election’, which is a barometer to measure the level of trust the citizens have on INEC”, she argued.
Sydney-Jack, who is also the Founder of WEWE Network Afrique, said while it is right for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to acquire modern tools to improve the system, technological credibility cannot replace institutional credibility.
The country’s electoral commission, she said, must enhance the believability and accountability of its processes by ensuring credible, free and fair elections to earn the trust of the electorate and by ensuring that violations are adequately punished.
She advocated increased inclusion of women in Nigeria’s male-dominated electoral process, describing the current level as ‘performative inclusion’.
She expressed discomfort over the dwindling participation of women compared to the 2019 and 2023 cycles.
She said: “On June 8, 2026 after the primaries of the various political parties in the country, we saw that only three female senatorial candidates emerged from across the 22 political parties in the country. This represents a drastic decline from what we saw in 2019.
“In 2023, there was no female presidential candidate on the ballot papers and in 2026, what we are seeing is the emergence of only two women among the 22 political parties. We also have four female Vice Presidential candidates across four political parties comprising the NNPP, the Labour Party, YPP and YP,” she said.
She faulted the non-transparent consensus option for party primaries, which she said has resulted in exclusion of women at the first stage.
“At the moment, the issue of opaque consensus method seems intentional to exclude women. How can you say that out of 22 political parties, only 20 per cent of women are seen as aspirants and even among the leading parties including the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), which has only about 10.8 per cent of women as candidates, which is a huge tragedy,” she added .
She cautioned that with a 50 per cent increase in voters, of which women are more, the low representation on the ballot means women will mostly be voting for men, and the country may have fewer women in Parliament in 2027.
“Right now we have just about four per cent of women and with the turn out that we saw at the primaries and on the ballot, we are looking at having just about 2.7 per cent at the Senate in 2027,” she said.